St. Paul Man Sexually Extorted Over 500 Children, Authorities Say

ST. PAUL, MN — A St. Paul man is charged in connection with a “sextortion” scheme that targeted more than 500 minors, according to authorities.

Yue Vang, 31, is charged with two counts of producing child pornography, one count of possessing child pornography and one count of interstate communications with intent to extort, authorities said.

For about five years, Vang communicated with hundreds of young girls through apps and social media sites including Kik, Snapchat and Skype, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Minnesota. Vang used fake female personas, enticing and coercing girls to create explicit images and videos to send him, the news release said. He also threatened to share the images with the girls’ families, friends and classmates unless they provided more nude or sexual content, according to the news release.

“For example, in June 2016, Vang contacted a 15-year-old girl and threatened to distribute sexually explicit pictures of her to her classmates and parents to ‘ruin her life’ unless she complied with Vang’s demands to send additional sexually explicit images and videos,” according to the news release.

If convicted, Vang faces a minimum of 15 years in prison, the news release said.

Vang’s case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. Anyone who believes they may have been victimized by Vang or who has information about the case should visit fbi.gov/resources/victim-services/seeking-victim-information/seeking-victims-in-yue-vang-investigation or www.Justice.gov/usao-mn/child-sextortion-victim-information.